€<J0KIN<5  BY  TROOPS, 

IN' 

CAilfiP  Al\l>  IIOSPITAI., 

WITH 

TAKING  FOOD  &  WHAT  FOOD, 

BY 

i  FLORENCE    NIGHTINGALE. 


J.  W.  BANDOLPH,  Bichmond,  Va. 


I-- 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 

GIFT  OF 


DR.  AND  MRS.  ELMER  BELT 


DIRECTIONS 


FOR 


COOKl'iNG  BY  TROOPS, 


IN 


CAMP  AND  HOSPITAL, 


PREPAKED  FOR  THE  ARMY  OF  VIRGINIA,  AND  PUBLISHED 
BY  ORDER  OF  THE  SURGEON  GENERAL: 


WITH   ESSAYS   ON 


'TAKING  FOOD,"  AND  "WHAT  FOOD/ 


BY  FLORENCE  NIGHTINGALE. 


J.  W.   RANDOLPH: 

121    MAIN   STREET,   RICHMOND,    VA, 
1861. 


Ac 

I? 


Directions  for  Cooking  in  Camp. 


No.   1. 

COFFEE  FOR  ONE  HUNDRED  MEN,  ONE  PINT  EACH. 

Put  12  gallons  water  into  a  suitable  vessel  (or  divide 
if  necessary),  on  the  fire  ;  when  boiling,  add  3  lbs. 
ground  coffee  .  mix  well  with  a  spoon  ;  leave  on  the  fivt 
a  few  minutes  longer;  take  it  off,  and  pour  in  ^  a  gal- 
lon cold  water  ;  let  it  stand  till  the  dregs  subside,  say 
from  5  to  10  minutes  :  then  pour  off,  and  add  6  lbs. 
sugar.  If  milk  is  used,  put  in  12  pints,  and  diminish 
the  water  by  that  amount. 


No.  2. 

FRESH  BEEF  SOUP  FOR  ONE  HUNDRED  MEN. 

Take  75  lbs.  beef;  cut  into  pieces  of  about  ^  lb. 
each  ;  15  gallons  water  ;  8  lbs.  mixed  vegetables  ;  10 
^mall  tablespoonfuls  salt ;  2  small  tablespoonfuls  gi-ound 
pepper  ;  some  cold  bread,  ci'ackers,  or  3  lbs.  rice,  to 
thicken  ;  place  on  the  fire  :  let  it  come  to  aboil  ;  then 
-immer  for  3  hours.     Skim  off  the  fat  and  serve. 


4  DIRECTIONS   FOR     COOKING. 

No.  3. 

soter's  stew  for  owe  hundred  men. 

Cut  50  lbs.  fresh  beef  in  piece.s  of  about  ^  lb.  each, 
and  with  18  quarts  of  water  put  into  the  boiler;  add  10 
tabiespoonfuls  of  salt,  two  of  pepper,  7  lbs.  onions,  cut 
in  slices,  and  20  lbs.  potatoes  peeled  and  sliced  ;  stir 
well,  and  let  it  boil  for  20  or  30  minutes  ;  then  add  1| 
lbs.  flour  previously  mixed  with  water;  mix  well  to- 
gether, and  with  a  moderate  heat  simmer  for  about  two 
hours.  Mutton,  veal  or  pork  can  be  stewed  in  a  similar 
n-anner,  but  will  take  half  an  hour  less  cooking.  A 
pound  of  lice  or  plain  dumplings  may  be  added  with 
sreat  advanta2:e. 


No.  4. 

suet  dumplings. 

Take  10  lbs.  flour,  15  teaspoonfuls  of  salt,  7  of  ground 
pepper,  7  lbs.  chopped  fat  pork  or  suet,  5  pints  water  ; 
mix  v.ell  together  ;  divide  into  about  150  pieces  ;  which 
roll  in  flour,  and  boil  with  meat  for  20  or  30  minutes. — • 
Jf  no  fat  or  suet  can  be  obtained,  take  the  same  ingre- 
dients, adding  a  little  more  water,  and  boil  about  10 
iTiinute.?.     Serve  with  the  meat. 


No.  5. 

TO  FRY  MEAT. 

pan  on  the  fire  for  a  minute  or  so:  wipe  it 
clean  ;   when  t!ie  pan  is  hot,  put  in    either  fat  or  butter 


DIRECTIONS   FOR    COOKING.  5 

(fat  from  salt  meat  is  preferable) ;  then  add  the  meat 
yoLi  are  going  to  cook;  turn  it  several  times,  to  have  it 
equally  done  ;  season  to  each  pound  a  small  teaspoon- 
ful  of  salt  and  a  quarter  of  pepper.  A  few  onions  in 
the  remaining  fat,  with  the  addition  of  a  little  flour,  a 
quarter  pint  of  water,  two  tablespoonfuls  of  vinegar,  o;- 
a  few  chopped  pickles,  will  be  very  relishing. 


No.  6. 


TO  COOK  SALT  BEEF  OR  PORK. 

Put  the  meat,  cut  in  pieces  of  from  3  to  4  lbs.,  to 
soak  the  night  before  ;  in  the  morning  wash  in  fresh 
water,  and  squeeze  well  with  the  hands  to  extract  the 
salt;  after  which,  put  in  your  kettle  with  a  pint  of  v.a- 
ter  to  each  pound,  and  boil  from  2  to  3  hours. 


No.  7. 

SALT    BEEF    OR    PORK,   WITH    MASHED     BEAXS.   FOR    0:\E 
HUNDRED  MEN. 

Put  in  two  vessels  37^  lbs.  meat  each  ;  divide  24  lb.-:, 
oeans  in  four  pudding  cloths,  loosely  tied  ;  putting  to 
boil  at  the  same  time  as  your  meat,  in  sufficient  water  : 
let  all  boil  gently  for  two  hours  ;  take  out  the  meat  and 
beans  ;  put  all  the  meat  into  one  boiler,  and  remove  the 
liquor  from  the  other;  into  which  turn  out  the  beans; 
add  to  them  two  teaspoonfuls  of  pepper,  a  pound  of  fat, 
and  with  the  wooden  spatular  mash  the  beans,  and  serve 
with  the  meat.  Six  sliced  onions  fried  and  added  im.- 
proves  the  dish. 


6  DIRECTIONS   FOR    COOKINO. 

[Note. — -In  cooking  all  kinds  of  meat,  be  careful  to 
preserve  the  grease,  which  can  be  easily  done  by  put- 
ting the  liquor  in  which  it  is  boiled,  by  till  it  cools  ; 
then  skim  off  and  place  in  a  clean  covered  vessel.  It 
is  an  excellent  substitute  for  butter;  is  useful  for  cook- 
ing purposes,  and  will  burn  in  a  common  lamp  or  tin 
plate  with  a  piece  of  old  cotton  twisted  up  for  a  wick.1 


Directions  for  Cooliing  in  Hospital. 


No.  1. 

MUTTON  STEWED  AND  SOUP  FOR  ONE    HUNDRED  MEN. 

Put  in  a  convenient  sized  vessel  16  gallons  water,  60 
■lbs.  meat,  12  lbs.  plain  mixed  vegetables,  9  lbs.  pearl 
barley  or  rice  (or  4|  lbs.  each),  1|  lbs.  salt,  1^  lbs. 
flour,  1  oz.  pepper.  Put  all  the  ingiedients,  except  the 
flour,  into  the  pan  ;  set  it  on  the  fire,  and  when  begin- 
ning to  boil,  diminish  the  beat,  and  simmer  gently  for 
two  hours  and  a  half,-^  take  the  meat  out  and  keep 
warm  ;  add  to  the  soup  your  flour,  which  you  have 
mixed  with  enough  water  to  form  a  light  batter;  stir 
well  together  with  a  large  spoon  ;  boil  another  half 
hour;  skim  off*  the  fat,  and  serve  the  meat  and  soup 
separate.  The  soup  should  be  stirred  occar:ionallv 
while  making,  to  prevent  burning  or  sticking. 


No.  2. 

BEEF    SOUP. 

Proceed  the  same  as  for  mutton,  only  leave  the  meat 
in  till  servino;,  as  it  takes  longer  to  cook  than  mutton. 
The  pieces  are  not  to  be  above  4  or  5  lbs,  weight  each. 


8  DIRECTIONS   FOR    COOKING. 

No.  3. 

BEEF    TEA,   SIX  PINTS. 

Cut  three  pounds  lean  beef  into  pieces  the  size  of 
walnuts,  and  break  up  the  bones  (if  any)  ;  put  it  into  a 
convenient  sized  kettle,  with  ^  lb.  mixed  vegetables 
(onions,  celery,  turnips,  carrots,  or  one  or  two  of  these, 
if  all  are  not  to  be  obtained),  1  oz.  salt,  a  little  pepper, 
2  oz.  butter,  |  pint  of  water.  Set  it  on  a  sharp  fire  for 
15  minutes,  stirring  occasionally,  till  it  forms  a  rather 
thick  gravy  at  the  bottom,  but  not  brown  ;  then  add  7 
pints  of  hot  water;  simmer  gently  for'an  hour.  Skim 
off  all  the  fat,  strain  through  a  sieve  and  serve. 


No.  4. 

THICK    BEEF    TEA. 

Dissolve  a  teaspoonful  of  arrow-root  in  a  gill  of  water, 
and  pour  it  into  the  beef  tea  twenty  minutes  before 
passing  through  the  seive,  or  add  ^  oz.  gelatine  to  the 
above  quantity  of  beef  tea,  when  cooking. 

Mutton  and  veal  will  make  good  tea,  by  proceeding 
the  same  as  above. 


No.  5. 

ESSENCE   OF  BEEF. 

Take  1  lb.  lean  beef,  cut  fine;  put  it  into  a  porter 
bottle  with  a  tea  cup  of  water,  ^  teaspoonful  of  salt,  a 
little  pepper,  and  6  grains  allspice  ;  tork  loosely,  and 
place  in  a  saucepan  of  cold  water ;  then  with  a  gentle 
heat  let  it  simmer  till  sufficient  quantity  of  the  essence 
is  obtained.     Serve  either  warm  or  cold. 


DIRECTIONS   FOR    COOKING.  y 

No.  6. 
CHICKEN  BROTH. 

Put  in  a  stew-pan  a  fowl,  .3  pints  water,  2  teaspoon- 
fuls  of  rice,  1  of  salt,  a  little  pepper  and  a  small  onion, 
or  two  ounces  of  mixed  vegetables  ;  boil  the  whole  gent- 
ly for  one  hour  (if  an  old  fowl,  simmer  for  two  hours, 
adding  one  pint  more  water.)  Skim  off  the  fat  and 
serve. 

A  light  mutton  broth  may  be  made  in  the  same  way, 
taking  1^  pounds  mutton — neck  if  convenient. 


No.  7. 

PLAIN  BOILED  RICE. 

Put  2  quarts  water  in  a  steW' pan  with  a  teaspoonful 
of  salt  ;  when  boiling,  add  to  it  |  pound  rice,  well 
washed  ;  boil  for  ten  minutes;  drain  off  the  water  and 
slightly  grease  the  pan  with  butter;  put  the  rice  back, 
and  let  it  swell  slowly  for  about  twenty  minutes,  near 
the  fire.  Each  grain  will  then  swell  up,  and  be  well 
separated.  Flavor  with  nutmeg  or  cinnamon,  and 
sweeten  to  taste. 

No.  8. 

SAGO    JELLY. 

Put  in  a  pan  with  3  pints  water,  3  oz.  sago,  1^  oz. 
sugar,  half  a  lemon  peel,  cut  very  thin,  ^  teaspoonful  of 
ground  cinnamon,  or  a  small  stick  of  the  same,  and  a 
little  salt;  boil  about  15  minutes,  stirring  constantly, 
then  add  a  little  port,  sherry  or  madeira  wine,  as  the 
case  will  admit. 


10  DIRECTIONS   FOR    COOKING. 


No.  9. 


ARROW-ROOT    MILK. 

Put  in  a  pan  4  oz.  arrow-root,  3  oz.  sugar,  the  peel  of 
half  a  lemon,  ^  teaspoonful  of  >salt,  2^  pints  of  milk; 
set  it  on  the  fire  ;  stir  gently  ;  boil  for  ten  minutes,  and 
serve. 

If  no  lemons  at  hand,  a  little  essence  of  any  kind 
will  do. 

When  short  of  milk,  use  half  water — -half  an  ounce 
of  butter  is  an  improvement. 


No.  10. 

ARROW-ROOT  WATER. 

Put  in  a  pan  3  oz.  arrow-root.  2  oz.  white  sugar,  the 
peel  of  a  lemon,  ^  teaspoonful  of  salt,  and  4  pints  water; 
mix  well,  set  on  the  fire,  and  boil  for  ten  minutes. 
Serve  hot  or  cold. 


No.  11. 

RICE   WATER. 

Put  7  pints  water  to  boil  ;  add  2  oz.  rice,  washed,  2 
oz.  sugar,  the  peel  of  two-thirds  of  a  lemon,  boil  gently 
for  three  quarters  of  an  hour,  or  til!  reduced  to  5  pints. 
Strain  and  serve — use  as  a  beverage. 


No.  i2. 


BARLEY  WATER. 


Put  in  a  saucepan  7  pints  water,  2  oz.  pearl  barley  ; 
stir  now  and  then  w^hen  boiling:  add  2  oz.  white  sugar, 


DIRECTIONS   FOR    COOKING.  11 

the  rind  of  half  a  lemon,  thinly  peeled  ;  boil  gently  for 
two  hours,  and  serve,  either  strained  or  with  the  barley 
left  in. 

No.  13. 

CRIMEAN  LEMONADE. 

Put  in  a  basin  2  tablespoon fu Is  of  white  or  brown 
sugar,  ^  a  tablespoonful  of  lime  juice,  nnix  well  together. 
and  add  one  pint  of  water. 

No.  14. 

CITRIC  ACID  LEMONADE, 

Dissolve  1  oz.  citric  acid  in  one  pint  of  cold  water  ;^ 
add  1  lb.  9  oz.  white  sugar,  mix  well  to  form  a  thick 
syrup;  then  put  in  19  pints  cold  water,  slowly  mixing 
well. 


No.  15. 

TOAST  AND  WATER. 

Cut  a  piece  of  crusty  bread  about  ^  lb. ;  toast  gently 
and  uniformly  to  a  light  yellow  color;  then  place  near 
the  fire,  and  when  of  a  good  brown  chocolate,  put  in  a 
pitcher;  pour  on  it  3  pii.ts  boiling  water;  cover  the 
pitcher,  and  when  cold,  strain — it  is  then  ready  for  use. 
Neverleave  the  toast  in,  as  it  causes  fermentation  in  a 
short  time. 

A  piece  of  apple,  slowly  toasted  till  it  gets  quite  black. 
and  added  to  the  above,  makes  a  very  refreshing  drink. 


ii 


T^KliSra   FOOD." 


<i 


TAKING  FOOD."   • 


Every  careful  observer  of  the  sick  will  agree  in  this, 
that  thousands  of  patients  are  annually  starved  in  the 
midst  of  plenty,  from  want  of  attention  to  the  ways 
which  alone  make  it  possible  for  them  to  take  food. 
This  want  of  attention  is  as  remarkable  in  those  who 
urge  upon  the  sick  to  do  what  is  quite  impossible  to 
them,  as  in  the  sick  themselves  who  will  not  make  the 
effort  to  do  what  is  perfectly  possible  to  them. 

For  instance,  to  the  large  majority  of  very  weak  pa- 
tients it  is  quite  impossible  to  take  any  solid  food  before 
11  A.  M,,  nor  then,  if  their  strength  is  still  further  ex- 
hausted hy  fasting  till  that  hour.  For  weak  patients 
have  generally  feverish  nights,  and,  in  the  morning,  dr}' 
mouths  ;  and,  if  they  could  eat  with  those  dry  mouths, 
it  would  be  the  worse  for  them.  A  spoonful  of  beef-tea, 
of  arrowroot  and  wine,  of  egg  flip,  every  hour,  will  give 
them  the  requisite  nourishment,  and  pievent  them  from 
being  too  much  exhausted  to  take  at  a  later  hour  the 
solid  food,  which  is  necessary  for  their  recovery.  And 
every  patient  who  can  swallow  at  all  can  swallow  these 
liquid  things,  if  he  chooses.  But  how  often  do  we  hear 
a  mutton-chop,  an  egg,  a  bit  of  bacon,  ordered  to  a  pa- 
tient for  breakfast,  to  whom  (as  a  moment's  considera- 
tion would  show  us)  it  must  be  quite  impossible  to  mas- 
ticate such  things  at  that  hour. 


16  TAKING  FOOD. 

Again,  a  nurse  is  ordered  to  give  a  patient  a  tea-cup 
full  of  some  article  of  food  every  three  hours.  The  pa- 
tient's storricich  rejects  it.  If  so,  try  a  table-spoonfull 
every  hour;  if  this  will  not  do,  a  tea-spoonfull  every 
quarter  of  an  hour. 

I  am  bound  to  say,  that  I  think  more  patients  are  lost 
by  want  of  care  and  ingenuity  in  these  momentous  mi- 
nutiae in  private  nursing  than  in  public  hospitals.  And 
I  think  there  is  more  of  the  entente  cordiah  to  assist  one 
another's  hands  between  the  Doctor  and  his  head  Nurse 
in  the  latter  institutions,  than  between  the  doctor  and 
the  patient's  friends  in  the  private  house. 

If  we  did  but  know  the  consequences  which  may  en- 
sue, in  very  weak  patients,  from  ten  minutes'  fasting  or 
repletion  (I  call  it  repletion  when  they  are  obliged  to  let 
too  small  an  interval  elapse  between  taking  food  and 
some  other  exertion,  owing  to  the  nurse's  unpunctuality), 
we  should  be  more  careful  never  to  let  this  occur.  In 
very  \\e2tk  patients  there  is  often  a  nervous  difficulty  of 
swallowing,  which  is  so  much  increased  by  any  other 
call  upon  their  strength  that,  unless  they  have  their  food 
punctually  at  the  minute,  which  minute  again  must  be 
arranged  so  as  to  fall  in  with  no  other  minute's  occupa- 
tion, they  can  take  nothing  till  the  next  respite  occurs — 
so  that  an  unpunctuality  or  delay  of  ten  minutes  may 
very  well  turn  out  to  be  one  of  two  or  three  hours.  And 
why  is  it  not  as  easy  to  be  punctual  to  a  minute  ?  Life 
often  literally  hangs  upon  the^e  minutes. 

In  acute  cases,  where  life  or  death  is  to  be  determined 
in  a  few^  hours,  these  matters  are  very  generally  at- 
tended to,  especiall3Mn  Hospitals;  and  the  number  of 
cases  is  large  where  the  patient  is,  as  it  were,  brought 
back  to  life  by  exceeding  care  on  the  part  of  the  Doctor 


TAKING  FOOD.  17 

or  Nurse,  or  both,  in  ordering  and  giving  nourishment 
with  minute  selection  and  punctuality. 

But  in  chronic  cases,  lasting  over  months  and  years, 
where  the  fatal  issue  is  often  determined  at  last  by  mere 
protracted  starvation,  I  had  rather  not  enumerate  the 
instances  which  I  have  known  where  a  little  ingenuity, 
and  a  great  deal  of  perseverance,  might,  in  all  probabil- 
ity, have  averted  the  result.  The  consulting  the  hours 
when  the  patient  can  take  food,  the  observation  of  the 
times,  often  varying,  w'hen  he  is  most  faint,  the  alter- 
ing seasons  of  taking  food,  in  order  to  anticipate  and 
prevent  such  times — all  this,  which  requires  observation, 
ingenuity,  and  perseverance  (and  these  really  constitute 
the  good  Nurse),  might  save  more  lives  than  we  wot  of.* 

To  leave  the  patient's  untasted  food  by  his  side,  Irom 
meal  to  meal,  in  hopes  that  he  will  eat  it  in  the  interval, 
is  simply  to  prevent  him  from  taking  any  food  at  all.  I 
have  known  patients  literally  incapacitated  from  taking 
one  article  of  food  after  another,  by  this  piece  of  igno- 
rance. Let  the  food  come  at  the  right  time,  and  be  taken 
awa}^  eaten  or  uneaten,  at  the  right  time;  but  never 
let  a  patient  have  "  something  always  standing"  by  him, 
if  you  dont  wish  to  disgust  him  of  everything. 

On  the  other  hand,  I  have  known  a  patient's  life 
saved  (he  was  sinking  for  want  of  food)  by  the-simple 
question,  put  to  him  by  the  doctor,  "  But  is  there  no 
hour  when  you  feel  yoti  could  eat?"  "  Oh,  yes,"  he  said, 
"I  could  always  take  something  at  —  o'clock  and  — 
o'clock."  The  thing  was  tried  and  succeeded.  Patients 
very  seldom,  however,  can  tell  this;  it  is  for  you  to 
watch  and  find  it  out. 

-•  A  patient  should  never  be  asked  if  he  will  have  any  particular 
article  of  food;  let  it  be  prepared,  and  broug-ht  to  him,  without 
any  questioning  on  the  part  of  the  nurse. 


18  TAKING  FOOD. 

A  patient  should,  if  possible,  not  see  or  smell  either 
fhe  food  of  others,  or  a  greater  amount  of  food  than  he 
himself  can  consume  at  one  time,  or  even  hear  food 
talked  about  or  see  it  in  the  raw  state.  I  know  of  no 
exception  to  the  above  rule.  The  breaking  of  it  always 
induces  a  greater  or  less  incapacity  of  taking  food. 

In  hospital  wards  it  is  of  course  impossible  to  observe 
all  this  ;  and  in  single  wards,  where  a  patient  ,must  be 
continuousl}'  and  closely  watched,  it  is  frequently  im- 
possible to  relieve  the  attendant,  so  that  his  or  her  own 
meals  can  be  taken  out  of  the  ward.  But  it  is  not  the 
less  true  that,  in  such  cases,  even  where  the  patient  is 
not  himself  aware  of  it,  his  possibility  of  taking  food  is 
limited  by  seeing  the  attendant  eating  meals  under  his 
observation.  In  some  cases  the  sick  are  aware  of  it,  and 
complain.  A  case  where  the  patient  was  supposed  to 
be  insensible,  but  complained  as  soon  as  able  to  speak, 
is  now  present  to  my  recollection. 

'Remember,  however,  that  the  extreme  punctuality  in 
well-ordered  hospitals,  the  rule  that  nothing  shall  be 
done  in  the  ward  while  the  patients  are  having  their 
meals,  go  far  to  counterbalance  what  unavoidable  evil 
cliere  is  in  having  patients  together.  I  have  often  seen 
the  private  nurse  go  on  dusting  or  fidgeting  about  in  a 
sick  room  all  the  while  the  patient  is  eating  or  trying  to 
eat. 

That  the  more  alone  an  invalid  can  be  when  taking 
food,  the  better,  is  unquestionable  ;  and,  even  if  he  inust 
be  fed,  the  nurse  should  not  allow  him  to  talk,  or  talk  to 
him,  especially  about  food,  while  eating. 

When  a  person  is  compelled,  by  the  pressure  of  occu- 
pation, to  continue  his  business  while  sick,  it  ought  to  be 
a  rule  without  any  exception  whatever,  that  no  one 
shall  bring  business  to  him.  or  talk  to  him  while  he  is 


TAKING  FOOD.  19 

faking  food,  nor  go  on  talking  to  him  on  interesting  sub- 
jects up  to  the  last  moment  before  his  meals,  nor  make 
an  engagement  with  him  immediately  after,  so  that  there 
be  an}'  hurry  of  mind  while  taking  thern. 

Upon  the  observance  of  these  rules,  especially  the 
first,  often  depends  the  patient's  capability  of  taking 
food  at  all,  or,  if  he  is  amiable  and  forces  himself  to 
take  food,  of  deriving  any  nourishment  from  it. 

A  nurse  should  never  put  before  a  patient  milk  that 
is  sour ;  meat  or  soup  that  is  turned,  an  egg  that  is  bad. 
or  vegetables  undone.  Yet  often  I  have  seen  these 
things  brought  in  to  the  sick  in  a  state  perfectly  percep- 
tible to  every  nose  or  eye  except  the  nurse's.  It  is  here 
that  the  clever  nurse  appears  ;  she  will  not  bring  in  the 
peccant  article,  but,  not  to  disappoint  the  patient,  she 
will  whip  up  something  else  in  a  few  minutes.  Remem- 
ber that  sick  cookery  should  half,  do  the  work  of  your 
poor  patient's  weak  digestion.  But  if  you  further  im- 
pair it  with  your  bad  articles,  I  know  not  what  is  to  be- 
come of  him  or  of  it. 

If  the  nurse  is  an  intelligent  being,  and  not  a  mere 
carrier  of  diets  to  and  from  the  patient,  let  her  exercise 
her  intelligence  in  these  things.  How  often  we  have 
known  a  patient  eat  nothing  at  all  in  ihe  day,  because 
one  meal  was  left  untasted  (at  that  time  he  was  incapa- 
ble of  eating),  at  another  the  milk  was  sour,  the  third 
was  spoiled  by  some  other  accident.  And  it  never  oc- 
curred to  the  nurse  to  extemporize  some  expedient, — 
it  never  occurred  to  her  that  as  he  had  had  no  solid 
food  that  day  he  might  eat  a  bit  of  toast  (say)  with  his 
tea  in  the  evening,  or  he  might  have  some  meal  an  hour 
earlier.  A  patient  who  cannot  to'.ich  his  dinner  at  two, 
will  often  accept  it  gladly,  if  brought  to  him  at  seven. 
But  some    how   nurses   never  "  think  of  these  thinsrs." 


20  TAKING  FOOD. 

One  would  imagine  they  did  not  consider  themselves 
bound  to  exercise  their  judgment;  they  leave  it  to  the 
patient.  Now  I  am  quite  sure  that  it  is  better  for  a  pa- 
tient rather  to  suffer  these  neglects  than  to  try  to  teach 
his  nurse  to  nurse  him,  if  she  does  not  know  how. 
It  ruffies  him,  and  if  he  is  ill  he  is  in  no  condition  to 
teach,  especially  upon  himself.  The  above  remarks  ap- 
ply much  more  to  private  nursing  than  to  hospitals. 

I  would  say  to  the  nurse,  have  a  rule  of  thought 
about  your  patient's  diet  ;  consider,  remember  how 
much  he  has  had,  and  how  much  he  ought  to  have  to- 
day. Generally,  the  only  rule  of  the  private  patient's  diet 
is  what  the  nurse  has  to  ^ive.  It  is  true  she  cannot  o-ive 
him  what  she  has  not  got;  but  his  stomach  does  not 
wait  for  her  convenience,  or  even  her  necessity.*  If  it  is 
used  to  having  its  stimulus  at  one  hour  to-day,  and  to- 
morrow it  does  not  have  it,  because  she  has  failed  in  get- 
ting it,  he  will  suffer.  She  must  be  always  exercising 
her  ingenuity  to  supply  defects,  and  to  remedy  accidents 
which  will  happen  among  the  best  contrivers,  but  from 
which  the  patient  does  not  suffer  the  less,  because  "they 
cannot  be  helped." 

One  very  minute  caution, — take  care  not  to  spill  into 
your  patient's  saucer,  in  other  words,  take  care  that  the 
outside  bottom  rim  of  his  cup  shall  be  quite  dry  and  clean  ; 

*Why,  because  the  nurse  has  not  got  some  food'to-day  %vhicl. 
the  patient  takes,  can  the  patient  %vait  four  hours  for  food  to-day, 
^vho  could  not  wait  two  hours  yesterday  ?  Yet  this  is  the  only 
logic  one  generally  hears.  On  the  other  hand,  the  other  logic, 
viz  ;  of  the  nurse  giving  the  patient  a  thing  because  she  has  got  it, 
is  equally  fatal.  If  she  happens  to  have  a  fresh  jelly,  or  fresh  fruit, 
she  will  frequently  give  it  to  the  patient  half  an  hour  after  his 
dinner,  or  at  his  dinner,  when  he  cannot  possibly  eat  that  and  the 
broth  too — or,  worse  still,  leave  it  by  his  bed-side  till  he  is  so  sick- 
ened with  the  sight  of  it,  that  he  cannot  eat  it  at  alL 


TAKING  FOOD.  21 

if,  every  time  he  lifts  his  cup  to  his  lips,  he  has  to  carry 
the  saucer  with  it,  or  else  to  drop  the  liquid  upon,  and  to 
soil  his  sheet,  or  his  bed-gown,  or  pillow,  or  if  he  is  sit- 
ing up,  his  dress,  you  have  no  idea  what  a  difference 
this  minute  want  of  care  on  your  part  makes  to  his  com- 
fort and  even  to  his  willingness  for  food. 


"^WH^T    FOOD." 


2S 


''WHAT  FOOD.'' 


i  will  mention  one  or  two  of  the  most  common  errors 
among  women  in  charge  of  sick  respecting  sick  diet. — ^ 
One  is  the  belief  that  beef  tea  is  the  most  nutritive  of  all 
articles.  Now,  just  try  and  boil  down  a  lb.  of  beef 
into  beef  tea,  evaporate  your  beef  tea  and  see  what  is 
left  of  your  beef.  You  will  find  that  there  is  barely  a 
teaspoonful  of  solid  nourishment  to  half  a  pint  of  water 
in  beef  tea  ;  nevertheless  there  is  a  certain  reparative 
quality  in  it,  we  do  not  know  what,  as  there  is  in  tea; — 
but  it  may  safely  be  given  in  almpst  any  inflammatory  dis- 
ease, and  is  as  little  to  be  depended  upon  with  the  healthy 
or  convalescent  where  much  nouri?-hment  is  required. 
Again,  it  is  an  ever  ready  saw  that  an  egg  is  equivalent 
to  a  lb.  of  meat, -^whereas  it  is  not  at  all  so.  Also,  it  is 
seldom  noticed  with  how  many  patients,  particularly  of 
nervous  or  bilious  temperament,  eggs  disagree.  All 
puddings  made  with  eggs,  are  distasteful  to  them  in  con^ 
sequence.  An  egg,  whipped  up  with  wine,  is  often  the 
only  form  in  which  they  can  take  this  kind  of  nourish- 
ment. Again,  if  the  patient  has  attained  to  eating 
nrieat,  it  is  supposed  that  to  give  him  meat  is  the  only 
thing  needful  for  his  recovery  ;  whereas  scorbutic  sores 
have  been  actually  known  to  appear  among  sick  persons 
living  in  the  mid.^t  of  plenty  in  England,  which  could 
be  traced  to  no  other  source  than  this;  viz.  :  that  the 
nurse,  depending  on  meat  alone,  had  allowed  the  patient 


26  WHAT  FOOD? 

to  be  without  vegetables  for  a  considerable  time,  these 
latter  being  80  badly  cooked  that  he  always  left  them 
untouched.  Arrow-root  is  another  grand  dependence  of 
the  nurse.  As  a  vehicle  for  wine,  and  as  a  restorative 
quickly  prepared,  it  is  all  very  well  But  it  'is  nothing 
but  starch  and  water.  Flour  is  both  more  nutritive,  and 
less  liable  to  ferment,  and  is  preferable  wherever  it  can 
be  used. 

Again,  milk,  and  the  preparations  from  milk,  are  a 
most  important  article  of  food  for  the  vsick.  Butter  is 
the  lightest  kind  of  animal  fat,  and  though  it  wants  the 
sugar  and  some  of  the  other  elements  which  there  are  in 
milk,  yet  it  is  most  valuable  both  in  itself  and  in  ena- 
bling the  patient  to  eat  more  bread.  Flour,  oats,  groats,* 
barley,  and  their  kind,  are,  as  we  have  already  said;  pre- 
ferable in  all  their  preparations  to  all  the  preparations  of 
arrowroot,  sago,  tapioca,  and  their  kind.  Cream,  in  many 
long  chronic  diseases,  i>  quite  irreplaceable  by  any  other 
article  whatevtT.  It  seems  to  act  in  the  same  manner  as 
beef  tea.  and  to  most  it  is  much  easier  of  digestion  than 
milk.  In  fact,  it  seldom  disagrees.  Cheese  is  not  usu- 
ally digestible  by  the  sick,  but  it  is  pure  nourishment 
for  repairing  waste  ;  and  I  have  seen  sick,  and  not  a  fevjr 
either,  whose  craving  for  cheese  showed  how  much  it 
was  needed  by  them.f 

■••'■  "  Groats,"  or  grits,  a  coarse  gronnd  corn  meal,  or  very  small 
hominy,  fanned  and  sifted.  Tliis  can  be  prepared  at  any  country 
corn  mill,  is  a  cheap  and  valuable  article  of  diet  for  the  sick.  It  can 
be  boiled  or  baked.  In  the  latter  form,  a  sauce  made  with  a  little 
sugar,  butter  and  lemon  juice,  or  vinegar,  renders  it  very  palata 
ble.     When  boiled  it  is  usually  eaten  with  a  little  butter  and  salt, 

tin  the  diseases  produced  by  bad  food,  such  as  scorbutic 
dysentery  and  diarrhoea,  the  patient's  stomach  often  craves  for 
and  digests  things,  some  of  which  certainly  would  be  laid  down 


WHAT   FOOD  ?  '.2t 

But,  if  fre^h  milk  is  so  valuable  a  food  for  the  sick, 
the  least  ch  mge  or  sourness  in  it,  makes  it  of  all  arti- 
cles, perhaps,  the  most  injurious  ;  diarrhcea  is  a  commoQ 
result  of  fresh  milk  allowed  to  become  at  all  sour.  The 
nurse  therefore  ought  to  exercise  her  utmost  care  in  this. 
In  large  institutions  for  the  sick,  even  the  poorest,  the 
utmost  care  is  exercised.  Wenham  Lake  ice  is  used  for 
this  express  purpose  every  summer,  while  the  private 
patient,  perhaps,  never  tastes  a  drop  of  iTiilk  that  is  not 
sour,  all  through  the  hot  weather,  so  little  does  the  pri- 
vate nurse  understand  the  necessity  of  such  care.  Yet, 
if  you  consider  that  the  only  drop  of  real  nourishment  in 
your  patient's  tea  is  the  drop  of  milk,  and  how  much 
almost  all  En^^lish  patients  depend  upon  their  tea,  you 
will  see  the  great  importance  of  not  depriving  your  pa- 
tient of  this  drop  of  milk.  Buttermilk,  a  totally  differ- 
ent thing,  is  often  very  useful,  especially  in  fevers. 

In  laying  down  rules  of  diet,  by  the  amounts  of 
"  solid  nutriment  "  in  different  kinds  of  food,  it  is  con- 
stantly lost  sight  of  what  the  patient  requires  to  repair 
his  waste,  what  he  can  take  and  what  he  can't.  You 
cannot  diet  a  patient  from  a  book,  you  cannot  make  up 
the  human  body  as  you  would  make  up  a  prescription, — 
so  many  parts  "carboniferous,"  so  many  parts  "  nitro- 
geneous"  will  constitute  a  perfect  diet  for  the  patient. 
The  nurse's  observation   hei-e  will  materially  assist  the 

in  no  dietary  that  ever  was  invented  for  sick,  and  especially  not 
for  such  sick  These  are  fruit,  pickles,  jams,  gingerbread,  fat  of 
ham  or  bacon,  suei,  cheese,  butter,  milk.  These  cases  I  have  seen 
not  by  ones,  nor  by  tens,  but  by  hundreds.  And  the  patient's 
stomach  was  right  and  the  book  was  wrong.  The  articles  craved 
for,  in  these  cases,  might  have  been  principally*arranged  under 
the  two  heads  of  fiit  and  vegetable  acids. 

There  is  often  a  marked  difference  between  im?n  and  women  in 
this  matter  ot  sick  feeling.   Women's  digestion  is  genei'aUy  slower. 


28  WHAT   FOOD? 

Doctor — the  patient's  "fancies  "  will  nnaterially  assist  the 
nurse.  For  instance,  sugar  is  one  of  the  nnost  nutritive 
of  all  articles,  being  pure  carbon,  and  is  particularly  re- 
commended in  some  books.  But  the  vast  majority  of 
all  patients  in  England,  young  and  old,  male  and  female, 
rich  and  poor,  hospital  and  private,  dislike  sweet  things, 
— and  wMiile  I  have  never  known  a  person  take  to 
sweets  when  he  was  ill  who  disliked  them  when  he  was 
well,  I  have  known  many  fond  of  them  when  in  health 
who  in  sickness  would  leave  off  anything  sweet,  even 
to  sugar  in  tea, — sweet  puddings,  sweet  drinks,  are 
their  aversion  ;  the  furred  tongue  almost  always  likes 
what  is  sharp  or  pungent.  Scorbutic  patients  are  an  ex- 
ception.    They  often  crave  for  sweetmeats  and  jams. 

Jelly  is  another  article  of  diet  in  great  favor  with 
nurses  and  friends  of  the  sick  ;  even  if  it  could  be  eaten 
solid,  it  would  not  nourish;  but  it  is  simpl}^  the  heightof 
folly  to  take  ^  oz.  of  gelatine  and  make  it  into  a  certain 
bulk  by  dissolving  it  in  water  and  then  to  give  it  to  the 
sick,  as  if  the  mere  bulk  represented  nourishment.  It  is 
now  known  that  jelly  does  not  nourish,  that  it  has  a  ten- 
dency to  produce  diarrhoea,— and  to  trust  to  it  to  repair 
the  waste  of  a  diseased  constitution  is  simply  to  starve 
the  sick  under  the  guise  of  feeding  them.  If  100  spoon- 
fuls of  jelly  were  given  in  the  course  of  the  day,  you 
would  have  given  one  spoonful  of  gelatine,  which  spoon- 
ful has  no  nutritive  power  whatever. 

And,  nevertheless,  gelatine  contains  a  large  quantity 
of  nitrogen,  which  is  one  of  the  most  powerful  elements 
in  nutrition  ;  on  the  other  hand,  beef  tea  may  be  chosen 
as  an  illustration  of  great  nutrient  power  in  sickness,  co- 
existing with'a  very  small  amount  of  solid  nitrogenous 
matter. 

Dr.  Christison  says  that  •'  every  one  will  be  struck 


WHAT   POOD?  29 

with  the  readiness  with  which"  certain  classes  of  "  pa- 
tients will  often  take  diluted  meat  juice  or  beef  tea  re- 
peatedly, when  they  refuse  all  other  kinds  of  food." 
This  is  particularly  remarkable  in  "  cases  of  gastric  fever 
in  which,"  he  says,  "little  or  nothing  else  besides  beef 
tea  or  diluted  meat  juice"  has  been  taken  for  weeks  or 
even  months,  "  and  yet  a  pint  of  beef  tea  contains 
scarcely  ^  oz.  of  anything  but  water," — the  result  is  so 
striking  that  he  asks  what  is  its  mode  of  action  ?  "  Not 
simply  nutrient — ^  oz.  of  the  most  nutritive  material 
cannot  nearly  replace  the  daily  wear  and  tear  of  the  tis- 
sues in  any  circumstances.  Possibly,''  he  says,  "  it  be- 
longs to  a  new  denomination  of  remedies."* 

It  has  been  observed  that  a  small  quantity  of  beef  tea 
added  to  other  articles  of  nutrition  augments  their  power 
out  of  all  proportion  to  the  additional  amount  of  solid 
matter. 

The  reason  why  jellyt  should  be  innutritious  and  leef 
too  nutritious  to  the  sick,  is  a  secret  yet  undiscovered, 
but  it  clearly  shows  that  careful  observation  of  the  sick 
is  the  only  clue  to  the  best  dietary. 

Chemistry  has  as  yet  afforded  little  insight  into  the 
dieting  of  sick.     All   that   chemistry  can  tell  us  is  the 

*  Chicken  broth,  with  the  fat  well  skimme.d  off,  is,  to  most  pa- 
tients, more  palatable  than  beef  tea. 

t  Another  most  excellent  dietetic  article  is  biscuit  jelly,  made 
according  to  the  following  formula  : 

Biscuit  Jelly. — Biscuit^  crushed,  4  oz. — cold  water,  2  quarts; 
soak  for  some  hours  ;  boil  to  one  ha!f ;  strain  ;  evaporate  to  one 
pint  ;  then  flavor  with  sugar,  red  wine  and  cinnamon. 

Parched  Corn,  powdered  and  sweetened  to  suit  the  taste,  is  re- 
commended as  a  pleasant  and  nutritious  diet  for  invalids. 

In  a  Southern  convalescent,  one  of  the  most  desirable  things 
that  can  be  given  them  is  thin  corn  meal,-ground,  well  boiled, 
seasoned  with  salt,  and  presented  while  hot. 


30  WHAT  FOOD  ? 

amount  of  "  carboniferous"  or  "  nitrogenous  "  elements 
discoverable  in  different  dietetic  articles.  It  has  given 
us  li?ts  of  dietetic  substances,  arranged  in  the  order  of 
their  richness  in  one  or  other  of  these  principles  ;  but 
that  is  all.  In  the  great  majority  of  cases,  the  stomach 
of  the  patient  is  guided  by  other  principles  of  selection 
than  merely  the  amount  of  carbon  or  nitrogen  in  the  diet. 
No  doubt,  in  this  as  in  other  things,  nature  has  very 
definite  rules  for  her  guidance,  but  these  rules  can  only 
be  ascertained  by  the  most  careful  observation  at  the 
b?d-side.  She  there  teaches  us  that  living  chemistry, 
the  chemistry  of  reparation,  is  something  different  from 
the  chemistry  of  the  laboratory.  Organic  chemistry  is 
useful,  as  all  knowledge  is,  when  we  cotne  face  to  face 
with  nature;  but  it  by  no  meaiis  follows  that  we  should 
learn  in  the  laboratory  any  one  of  the  reparative  pro- 
cesses going  on  in  disease. 

Again,  the  nutritive  power  of  milk  and  of  the  prepa- 
rations fiom  milk,  is  veiy  much  undervalued  ;  there  is 
nearly  as  much  nourishment  in  half  a  pint  of  milk  as 
there  is  in  a  quarter  of  a  lb.  of  meat.  But  this  is  not  the 
whole  question  or  nearly  the  whole.  The  main  question 
is  what  the  patient's  stomach  can  assimilate  or  derive 
nourishment  from,  and  of  this  the  patient's  stomach  is 
the  sole  judge.  Chemistry  cannot  tell  this.  The  patients 
stomach  must  be  its  own  chemist.  The  diet  which  will 
keep  the  healthy  man  healthy,  will  kill  the  sick  one.  The 
same  beef  which  is  the  most  nutritive  of  all  meat  and 
which  nourishes  the  healthy  man,  is  the  least  nourishing 
of  all  food  to  the  sick  man,  whose  half-dead  stomach  can 
assimilaie  no  part  of  it,  that  is,  make  no  food  out  of  it. 
On  a  diet  of  beef  tea  healthy  men  on  the  other  hand 
speedily  lose  their  strength. 

I  have  known  patients  live  for  many  months   without 


WHAT   FOOD  ?  31 

touching  bread,  because  they  could  not  eat  bakers' 
bread.  Theee  were  mostly  country  patients,  but  not 
all.  Homemade  bread  or  brown  bread  is  a  most  im- 
portant article  of  diet  for  many  patients.  The  use  of 
apeiients  may  be  entirely  superseded  by  it.  Oat  cake 
is  another. 

To  watch  for  the  opinions,  then,  which  the  patient's 
stomach  gives,  rather  than  to  read  "analyses  of  foods," 
is  the  business  of  all  those  who  have  to  settle  what 
the  patient  is  to  eat  —  perhaps  the  most  important 
thing  to  be  provided  for  him  after  the  air  he  is  to 
breathe. 

Now  the  medical  man  who  sees  the  patient  only 
once  a  day,  or  even  only  once  or  twice  a  week,  cantiot 
possibly  tell  this  without  the  assistance  of  the  patient 
himself,  or  of  those  who  are  in  con>tant  observation  on 
the  patient.  The  utmost  the  medical  man  can  tell  is 
whether  the  patient  is  weaker  or  stronger  at  this  visit 
than  he  was  at  the  last  visit.  [  should,  therefore,  say 
that  incomparably  the  most  important  office  of  the  nurse 
after  she  has  taken  care  of  the  patient's  air,  is  to  take 
care  to  observe  the  effect  of  his  food,  and  report  it  to 
the  medical  attendant. 

It  is  quite  incalculable  the  good  that  would  certainly 
come  fiom  such  sound  and  close  observation  in  this 
almost  neglected  branch  of  nursing,  or  the  help  it 
W'ould  give  to  the  medical  man. 

A  great  deal  too   much   against  tea*  is  said  b}'  wise 


*  It  is  made  a  frequfcnt  recommendation  to  persons  about  to 
incur  great  exhaustion,  either  from  the  nature  of  the  service,  or 
from  their  being  not  in  a  state  fit  for  it,  to  eat  a  fjiece  of  Inead 
before  they  go.  1  wish  the  recommenders  would  themseFves  try 
the  experiment  of  substituting  a  piece  of  bread  for  a  cup  of  tea 
or  coffee,  or   beef  tea, as  a  refresher.     They  would  find  it  a  very 


32  WHAT   FOOD? 

people,  and  a  great  deal  too  much  of  tea  is  given  to 
the  sick  by  foolish  people.  When  you  see  the  natural 
and  almost  universal  craving  in  English  sick  for  their 
"tea,"  you  cannot  but  feel  that  nature  knows  what  she 
is  about.  But  a  little  tea  or  coffee  restores  them  quite 
as  much  as  a  gieat  deal,  and  a  great  deal  of  tea,  and 
especially  of  coffee,  impairs  the  little  power  of  diges- 
tion they  have.  Yet  a  nurse,  because  she  sees  how 
one  or  two  cups  of  tea  or  coffee  restores  her  patient, 
thinks  that  three  or  four  cups  will  do  twice  as  much. 
This  is  not  the  case  at  all;  it  is,  however,  certain 
that  there  is  nothing  yet  discovered  which  is  a  substi- 
tute to  the  English  patient  for  his  cup  of  tea  ;  he  can 
take  it  when  he  can  take  nothing  else,  and  he  often 
can't  take  anything  else  if  he  has  it  not.  I  should  be 
very  glad  if  any  of  the  abusers  of  tea  would  point  out 
what   to   give   to   an  English   patient  after   a  sleepless 

poor  comfort.  Wheti  soldiers  have  to  set  out  fasting  on  fatiguing 
duty,  when  nurses  have  to  go  tasting  in  to  their  patients,  it  is  a 
hot  rest-orative  they  want,  and  ought  to  have,  before  they  go,  not 
a  cold  bit  of  bread.  And  dreadful  have  been  the  consequences 
of  neglecting  this.  If  they  can  take  a  bit  of  bread  tvith  the  hot 
cup  of  tea,  so  much  the  better,  but  not  inslead  of  it.  The  fact  that 
their  is  more  nourishment  in  bread  than  in  almost  anything  -elSe 
has  probably  induced  th«  mistake.  That  it  is  a  fatal  mistake 
there  is  no  doubt.  It  seems,  though  very  little  is  known  on  the 
subject,  that  what  ''assimilates"  itself  directly,  and  with  the  least 
trouble  of  digestion  with  the  human  body,  is  the  best  for  the  above 
circumstances.  Bread  requires  two  or  three  processes  of  assimila- 
tion, before  it  becomes  like  the  human  body. 

The  almost  universal  testimony  of  English  men  and  women  who 
liave  undergone  great  fatigue,  such  as  riding  long  journeys  without 
stopping  or  sitting  up  for  several  nights  in  succession,  is  that  they 
could  do  it  best  upon  an  occasional  cup  of  tea — and  nothing 
else. 

Let  experience,  not  theory,  decide  upon  this  as  upon  all  other 
things. 


WHAT   FOOD?  33 

night,  instead  of  tea.  If  you  give  it  at  5  or  6  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  he  may  even  sometimes  fall  asleep  af- 
ter it,  and  get  perhaps  his  only  two  or  three  hours' 
sleep  during  the  twenty-four.  At  the  same  time  you 
never  should  give  tea  or  coffee  to  the  siok,  as  a  rule, 
after  5  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  Sleeplessness  in  the 
early  night  is  from  excitement  generally,  and  is  in- 
creased by  tea  or  coffee  ;  sleeplessness  which  contin- 
ues to  the  early  morning  is  fiom  exhaustion  often,  and 
is  relieved  by  tea.  The  only  English  patients  I  have 
ever  known  refuse  tea,  have  been  typhus  cases,  and 
the  first  sigii  of  their  getting  better  was  their  cra- 
ving ao:ain  for  tea.  In  general,  the  dry  and  dirty 
tongue  always  prefers  tea  to  coffee,  and  will  quite 
decline  milk,  unless  with  tea.  Coffee  is  a  better  re- 
storative than  tea,  but  a  greater  impairer  of  the  diges- 
tion. Let  the  patient's  taste  decide.  You  will  say 
that,  in  cases  of  great  thirst,  the  patient's  craving  de- 
cides that  it  will  drink  a  great  deal  of  tea,  and  that 
you  cannot  help  it.  But  in  these  cases  be  sure  that 
the  patient  require?  diluents  for  quite  other  purposes 
than  quenching  the  thirst ;  he  wants  a  great  deal  of  some 
drink,  not  only  of  tea,  and  tiie  doctor  will  order  what 
he  is  to  have,  barley  water  or  lemonade,  or  soda  water 
and   milk,  as  the  case  may  be. 

Le;iman,  quoted  by  Dr.  Christison,  says  that,  among 
the  well  and  active,  "the  infusion  of  1  oz.  of  roasted 
coffee  daily  will  diminish  the  waste  going  on  in  the 
body  by  one-fourth,"  -and  Dr.  Christison  adds  that  tea 
has  the  same  property.  Now  this  is  actual  experi- 
ment. Lehmaa  weighs  the  man  and  finds  the  fact 
fiom  his  weight.     It   is  not  deduced  from  any  "analy- 


34  WHAT   FOOD? 

sis"  of  food.  All  experience  among  the  sick  shows  the 
same  thing.* 

Cocoa  is  often  reconimended  to  the  sick  in  lieu  of 
tea  or  coffee.  But  independently  of  the  fact  that  Eng- 
lish sick  very  generally  dislike  cocoa,  it  has  quite  a 
different  effect  from  tea  or  coffee.  It  is  an  oily  starchy 
nut,  having  no  restoritive  at  all,  but  simply  increasing 
fat.  It  is  pure  mockery  of  the  sick,  therefore,  to  call 
it  a  substitute  for  tea.  For  any  renovating  stimulus  it 
has,  you  might  just  as  well  offer  them  chestnuts  instead 
of  tea. 

An  almost  universal  error  among  nurses  is  in  the  bulk 
of  the  food,  and  especially  the  drinks  they  offer  totheir 
patients.  Suppose  a  patient  ordered  4  oz. .  brandy  du- 
ring the  day,  how  is  he  to  take  this  if  you  make  it  into 
four  pints  with  diluting  it?  The  same  with  tea  and 
beef  tea,  with  arrowroot,  milk,  &c.     You  have  not  in- 

*  111  making  coffee,  it  is  absolulel y  iiecessary  to  buy  it  in  the 
berry  and  grind  it  at  home.  Otherwise  you  may  reckon  upon  its 
containing  a  certain  amount  of  chicory,  at  least.  This  is  not  a 
question  of  the  taste,  or  of  the  wholesoraeness  of  chicory.  It  is 
that  chicory  has  nothing  at  all  of  the  properiies  for  which  you 
give  coffee.     And  therefore  you  may  as  well  not  give  it. 

Again,  all  laundresses,  mistresses  of  dairy-farms,  head  nurses, 
(I  speak  of  the  good  old  sort  only — women  who  unite  a  good  deal 
of  hard  man-ual  labor  with  the  head-work  necessary  for  arrang- 
ing the  day's  business,  so  that  none  of  it  shall  tread  upon  the 
heels  of  something  else,)  set  great  value,  I  have  observed,  upon 
liaving  a  high-priced  tea.  This  is  called  extravagant.  But  these 
women  are  '^extravagant"  in  nothing  else.  And  they  ate  right 
in  this.  Real  tea-leaf  tea  alone  contains'the  restorative  they  want ; 
which  is  not  to  be  found  in  sloe-leaf  tea. 

The  mistresses  of  houses,  who  cannot  even  go  over  their  own 
house  once  a  day,  are  incapable  of  judging  for  these  women.  For 
they  are  incapable  themselves,  to  all  appearance,  of  the  spirit  of 
arrangement  (no  small  task)  necessary  for  managing  a  large  waro 
or  dairv. 


WHAT   FOOD?  35 

creased  the  nourishment,  you  have  not  increased  the 
renovating  power  of  these  articles,  by  increasina:  their 
bulk',  you  have  very  likely  diminished  both  by  giving 
the  patient's  digestion  more  to  do,  and  most  likely  of 
all,  the  patient  will  leave  half  of  what  he  has  been  or- 
dered to  take,  because  he  cannot  swallow  the  bulk  with 
which  you  have  been  pleased  to  invest  it.  It  requires 
very  nice  observation  and  care  (and  meets  with  hardly 
any)  to  determine  what  will  not  be  too  thick  or  strong 
for  the  patient  to  take,  while  giving  him  no  more  than 
^he  bulk  which  he  is  able  to  swallow,- 


SCIENCE    OF   WAR! 
TA.CTICS 

FOR 

OFFICERS 

OF 

INFANTRY,  CAVALRY  AND  ARTILLERY. 

ARRANGED  AND   COMPILED   BY 

I.  V.  BTJCKHOLTZ. 

Oue  Volume,  12mo,  Price  75  cts.  by  mail,  post  paid. 

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J.  W.  Bandolph — Dear  Sir: — I  have  only  had  time  to  look 
over  the  Military  work  of  Capt.  Jjuckholiz,  hecsiuse  of  my  pressing 
duties,  yet  I  am  satisfied  that,  if  printed,  much  valuable  informa* 
tion  to  our  citizen  soldiery  will  be  furnished. 

The  popular  works  upon  military  matters,  now  before  the  pub- 
lic, are  confined  to  ordinary  drills  and  parades.  What  is  now 
wanted,  is  a  treatise  going  to  show  when  the  various  movements 
of  Artillery,  Cavalry,  Infantry  and  Rifle,  as  taught  in  their  respec- 
tive drills,  should  be  used  in  presence  of  an  enem}', — what  grounds 
should  be  selected  for  battle  and  encampment — what  precautions  to 
be  taken  when  advancing  or  retreating-^when  to  act  in  column-^ 
when  in  line,  how  to  post  the  different  arms  to  act  most  favorabl}^ 
— information  most  essential  to  success,  and  without  which,  no 
matter  how  personally  brave  troops  may  be,  they  are  exposed  to 
almost  certain  disaster  in  prc^sence  of  an  equal  number  of  well 
drilled  and  well  manoeuvered  troops,  and  this  information  Capt. 
Buckholtz  furnishes  in  his  work. 

I  have  no  hesitation  in  recommending  it. 
Very  respectfully  yours, 

CHARLES  DIMMOCK,  Capt.,  ^'c,  cj'c. 

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